Chasing Cars
by PerfectNezumi
Summary: Finny challenges Shizuo to a display of strength. (part 3)


_A/N: Part three (final) of Shizuo-Finny (b)romance. Part one: Strength in Numbers. Part Two: Yin and Yang. Can be read stand-alone, though. Gay fluff._

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Shizuo leaned back against the railing, staring out at the twinkling city lights without really seeing them, smiling softly.

"He's always so happy to see me, and if I accidentally throw things in his direction he just catches them, puts them down and keeps on talking. He told that _bastard flea_ that I was his friend and that he liked me. I still just find it so amazing."

Shizuo paused, his brow furrowing in annoyance. Celty's shoulders were shaking, and she was swaying ever so slightly. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was laughing at him. "What?" he said defensively.

Celty shook her head – or rather, her helmet turned quickly side to side, where her head should be – and tapped out a message on her phone with deft fingers.

[You're rambling, Shizuo-san. I've never heard you so talkative before.]

Shizuo dug around in his pocket for his cigarettes and wriggled one out, mulling over her words. Why did he feel the need to speak about Finnian, the strong, wide-eyed blond who'd bounded feet first into his life and made himself at home?

Celty, of course, wasn't asking for an explanation. She was always content to listen and take in whatever he wanted to tell her without asking for more, and Shizuo had always suspected she had become closer to him because she felt happier knowing she wasn't the only 'monster' trying to live a normal life in Ikebukuro. Not that he cared, nor would he ever ask; With Celty was perhaps the only time his anger was completely blocked out. She somehow invoked a sort of calm within him.

He slipped the cigarette between his lips and flicked his lighter in its general direction, the sparks glowing orange in the darkness. "He's as powerful as I am and can cause just as much damage, it's just not anger. He's never angry. It amazes me."

Celty's helmet tilts to one side.

[Then why does he destroy things? Does he enjoy it?]

Shizuo shook his head and breathed out smoke. "Either he forgets he's strong, or he just doesn't realize how much stronger than a normal person he is. The other night he got so excited about baking a cake that he whisked a hole right through the bottom of the bowl." His lips twisted upwards.

[You own a whisk?]

"You're questioning my baking expertise, Celty-san?" Shizuo raised an eyebrow, then snorted. "You're right, I don't. Simon invited him to help out at Russia Sushi and he cut straight through their bench. So Finny offered to bake a cake to apologise." He huffed in near-silent laughter.

[You feel close to him because he is different, like you.]

Shizuo smiled softly to himself. "I wouldn't say he is like me. Finny is very gentle and naïve. He doesn't have the stench of this vile city permeating his pores just yet. He follows me blindly, like a cute little brother."

[Brother?]

There was something heavy in the way she asked the question, something implied, that Shizuo didn't quite get. He ignored it, and kept speaking without censoring himself. He needed to say it, and Celty wouldn't tell anyone.

"I care about my brother and want him to succeed the best he can. But he doesn't need me. Actually, his life would be easier if I didn't exist. But Finny does look up to me, and need me, and want my guidance. So he's my honorary little brother. I like spending time with him."

Celty was silent until he'd finished his cigarette and crushed it under his heel, at which point she offered him her phone almost reluctantly.

[I'm not the most knowledgeable on human relationships, but it doesn't seem to me like you want Finnian-san to be your little brother, Shizuo-san.]

Shizuo glowered. "Then what do I want from him?" he demanded.

Celty simply stood there, and her expressionless motorcycle helmet gaze almost seemed accusing.

"Something more?" He wasn't sure if he imagined the slight dip of the helmet in acknowledgement.

Shizuo looked bemused. "Really, I don't want to _date_ him."

Celty just shrugged.

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"You don't have work today?" Finny was literally bouncing on his bed in excitement.

"Right. Tom said we've collected enough this week, so we can take the day off."

Shizuo had to wonder if the reason they'd been so successful was the way Finny pleaded with their clients so sincerely and innocently while gripping their wrists so tight their bones were shattering. He didn't think the kid had realized he was physically hurting them, and he hadn't the heart to tell him.

"Can we go to an aquarium? I've never seen the sea before, and the little fishies look so cute on the billboards."

Finny's eyes were large and round and sparkling, and Shizuo nodded before he remembered Celty's insinuation and the fact that aquariums were date locations. He scowled to himself, but Finny's enthusiasm was too overwhelming and he couldn't keep it up for long.

"Fish, fishes!" Finny grinned up at him in childish delight. "I'm so happy I get to see the fishies with you. I think turtles are pretty cool. Do you like turtles, Shizuo-san?"

Shizuo covered his face with a large hand, wishing he could disappear. _Why on earth did that make my face red?_

 _._

The girl behind the ticket desk was quivering so violently the googly eyes on her foam shark hat were spinning in circles.

Shizuo leaned over the desk, and injected as much calm into his voice as he could manage. " _Why,_ pray tell me, are you refusing to let us in? I have the money right here."

The notes were admittedly more crumpled than they'd been when he'd removed them from his wallet, but they were still legal tender.

"I-I can't. Management says," the girl stuttered, eyes darting about for someone, anyone, to help her. "Ah-a Heiwajima-san, blond man dressed as a bartender, a-and an Orihara-san are b-b-b-banned for life for causing a hole in our orca tank and d-draining all the water."

Shizuo fumed. He didn't remember fighting with Izaya in this part of town, but it was entirely possible. That blasted flea always picked the most inconvenient places to start trouble.

"You shouldn't keep whales in captivity anyway," Shizuo muttered, and turned on his heel to walk away. He _may_ have casually punched a hole in the wall upon leaving. Finny skipped to keep up.

After an extended period of silent, aimless walking, Finny spoke up. "It's okay if we can't see the fishes. But what do you think we should do instead? It's so sunny, we could get ice cream."

Shizuo frowned. It surprised him just how much he'd actually wanted to go to the aquarium with the bouncy blond, and he was more than a little pissed that the plan hadn't worked out. "I don't know," he said shortly.

"Hmm." Finny folded his arms behind his neck and tilted his head back to watch the lazily drifting clouds. "Maybe we should start a fight?"

Shizuo stopped walking abruptly. "What?"

Finny shrugged nonchalantly. "You know, with each other. You're super strong, right? I've never fought with anyone on my level before."

"I don't like violence." It was true, but more than that Shizuo just didn't think he could so much as throw a punch towards Finny. The kid was just too… innocent. He leaned back against a nearby chain-linked fence and studied Finny carefully. He'd thought the kid avoided using his strength wherever possible, but maybe he'd been wrong.

Finny pouted. "Well, we could do something else, right? Like, a competition?"

"A competition?"

"Yeah." Finny nodded enthusiastically, warming up to his idea. "We could try who can throw something the furthest, or something like that."

"Throw what?" It didn't sit too well with Shizuo to plan to do something destructive (that didn't involve beating the shit out of Izaya) but he had to admit his curiousity was piqued. After all, aside from Simon he'd never met anyone who came close to sharing his strength.

"Umm." Finny tapped his bottom lip with a finger while he pondered. "I don't know. A tree? We should probably take it out of the city though, so no one gets hurt."

The aquarium lay on the outskirts of Tokyo, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to get out of the city completely. Actually, Shizuo realized, looking around, their aimless wandering had brought them even closer to the edge of nowhere.

The fence he was leaning on even sheltered a selection of old, rusted cars. They'd obviously been abandoned, possibly a long time ago given that many of them had small plants sprouting from their bonnets and other miscellaneous areas. That gave him an idea.

"You see those?" He pointed vaguely in the direction of the cars. "I bet I could push one further than you."

Finny looked a little dubious. "Wouldn't that be stealing, though?"

"Nah. I don't think anyone will miss them." Finny didn't look convinced, so he added, "We can always bring them back. Good as new, right?"

Finny smiled. "Well, not really new."

Shizuo chuckled and turned towards the fence. He cracked his knuckles. "Time to break you lot out of here."

He ripped the wire apart in a fairly straight vertical line, rolling back the edges to create a crude opening wide enough for a car to pass through. He stepped through the hole, Finny gingerly following, and gestured to the lot. "Pick your vehicle."

He didn't care much for competition, if he was honest, and he just planned to take the nearest car and be done with it. Finny, on the other hand, was carefully peering through windows, checking tyres and inspecting rust with his hands firmly clasped behind his back.

"This one!" he said excitedly after a few minutes. "It has a sunflower growing on the backseat!"

"Alright." Shizuo kicked the car he was standing next to in the direction of the hole he'd made. It rattled loudly and jumped forward an inch. Shizuo scowled and kicked it harder. It flew over the fence and landed near the road with an almighty crash.

Finny pushed his car gently into the 'starting position' or rather, next to the car Shizuo had so rudely booted from its habitat. He grinned up at Shizuo. "Are you ready? This is going to be fun!"

Shizuo nodded briefly. "Go."

"Alright!" Finny whooped as he jogged up the road, happily pushing his junker of a car in front of him.

Shizuo followed, pleased to realize he could keep up with Finny's pace just by taking extra long strides. The road was empty as far as he could see, and the sun was warm.

After a while they fell into a lulling rhythm and, despite the absurdity of the whole situation, Shizuo found himself in a state of relative calm. Finny was singing something in his native tongue and the cars made regular, repeated clunking sounds that seemed to add percussion.

 _This is weird,_ he thought to himself. _But then, is any of my life not weird?_

He had dated, once, in high school. He wasn't sure why he was remembering it now. The girl had been an honours student, forced by her parents to try, try _try harder_ until she was a hair's breath from snapping. He, of course, had been her rebellion, a blatant _fuck you_ to her parents who wanted too much. He'd known it the first time she'd spoken to him, and though she'd been pretty he wasn't interested in being someone's token 'bad boy'.

That is, until Izaya had shown interest in her. He couldn't, in good conscience, knowingly let another human being be destroyed by the flea that plagued him. Especially knowing that Izaya was chasing her in order to get to him. So he said yes, and carried her bags, and walked her home after school, and endured the heated glares from her parents. They spent so much time together that in the end he had grown somewhat attracted to her.

One day she turned to him and started crying. _"Shizuo-kun, I feel terrible. I feel like I've been lying to you all this time."_

" _You mean about using me to pretend you're not just a scholarship student and show you're not perfect?"_ he'd said, which started a fresh bout of tears.

" _I did, I did and I'm so sorry. I feel so bad because I picked you for your blond hair and your fighting and – and you're just so sweet and kind to me I don't know what to do."_

Shizuo waited.

" _I – I think I love you."_

Shizuo wordlessly handed her a handkerchief and patted her head awkwardly. She took it and blew her nose, smiling through the tears. _"See? You do things like that. I never thought I'd actually like you."_

It was a backhanded compliment, but it didn't really bother him. He'd never asked for any of this to happen in the first place, after all. Everything was Izaya's fault.

" _I – my parents aren't home, if you'd like to come?"_

He was stupid, so stupid for not realizing what she'd meant. He'd followed her home anyway, and when she sat blushing on the bed in her bra, much-too-short uniform skirt and knee-high white socks his teenage hormones had taken over.

She'd ended up in Shinra's dubious care with a fractured tibia and the bones in both wrists crushed.

Izaya, of course, found it hilarious. _"Shizu-chan, your love is so magnificent!"_

Shizuo didn't know what had happened to the girl after that. He hid round corners and leaped buildings to avoid her, because why on earth would she ever want to speak to him again? Why on earth would anyone want to get close to someone who could – and, apparently, would – break their bones in an instant?

"Hey, Shizuo-san?"

Shizuo blinked out of his reverie to stare at Finny, his feet still moving on autopilot.

"It's getting dark."

Shizuo stopped moving and looked up. It was getting dark. The sun was low on the horizon, the mountains in the distance becoming like painted silhouettes.

"We should pull over here," Finny suggested lightly. "Otherwise we'll probably just be doing this forever."

Shizuo nodded in silent agreement and tipped his car off the road. It was hard to believe he'd been _pushing_ a goddamn _car_ for what must have been hours and had totally forgotten he was doing it. Usually he mind blanked when he was angry but now… right now all he could feel was a deep, aching sadness.

Finny clambered to sit on the roof of his vehicle and sighed wistfully. "The sunset is so pretty. I wonder if Young Master and Sebastian-san are also watching."

Shizuo climbed onto the bonnet of his car and lay down with his back against the windscreen. "I doubt it's evening where they are."

"Oh! Right." Finny laughed at himself, swinging his legs. "I forgot. It's still pretty though."

"Yeah." Shizuo watched him out of the corner of his eye. The kid was like a dazzling sparkle of light that the dirt of Ikebukuro would not stick to, and the blinding light of the setting sun illuminating his profile seemed to highlight that.

Finny watched the sunset. Shizuo watched Finny. And for once, the world wasn't watching Shizuo.

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Shizuo was half-asleep when Finny crawled onto his car's bonnet and snuggled under his arm. "It's cold," the kid mumbled, and fell asleep almost instantly.

Shizuo lay frozen, staring at the tiny twinkling stars dotted across the sky and feeling his heartbeat thunder against the warm weight on his chest, Finny's breath puffing slow and rhythmic against his neck. He stayed that way, trying not to breathe, until the morning sun peeked over the horizon.

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Finny's stomach woke before him, with a loud rumbling protest that surprised them both.

"I suppose we didn't have dinner," Shizuo said, pretending the younger blond wasn't still curled into his chest. "And it'll probably be a long time until breakfast."

They'd been on the outskirts of Tokyo before starting their mad competition, and now they were far, far beyond that and out in the middle of nowhere. Now that he thought about it, this must be the reason the road had be suspiciously empty the whole way.

"I guess we'll just have to get back quickly then," Finny said cheerily, jumping down from the car and stretching his arms above his head.

"Maybe we could leave the cars here," Shizuo suggested, hastily adding, "To become one with nature, with no chain fence obstructing them."

Finny wrinkled his nose. "I guess."

"Breakfast would come a lot faster," Shizuo pushed.

"Okay then." Finny smiled warmly at him, and he had to look away. "Are you ready to run?"

Shizuo could push a car a thousand miles. Shizuo could rip up a guardrail and use it to destroy a building. He could hurl a vending machine further than the eye can see. What Shizuo could not do was run long distances. Especially on no sleep and woefully hungry. So he was beyond glad when Finny stopped midstride and squealed, grabbing his arm like a vice, even though the movement nearly threw him onto his face.

"Look, Shizuo-san, kitties!" Finny was literally jumping up and down. "They're so cute!"

Shizuo blinked. One moment Finny was right beside him and the next he was crouching in the grass on the side of the road, staring bright-eyed at a disgruntled looking cat and her four tussling kittens.

"Sebastian-san loves cats, but the Young Master is allergic so we can never have any at the Phantomhive Residence. I wish we could, they're so tiny and adorable and fluffy."

Shizuo scowled at the casual mention of the butler's name, but Finny was still babbling.

"You're all so sweet! You can be Mrs. Fluffy, and this is Fluffy One, Fluffy Two, Fluffy Three, and Fluffy Four. I wish I could keep you all."

Finny had progressed to lying on his stomach, face propped up on his hands. He was lying a metre away from the kittens and staring at them wistfully. He was, Shizuo realized suddenly, probably terrified of touching them in case he hurt them. The thought caused a grating knot in his stomach.

He'd only ever been afraid of hurting his brother with his strength before; no one else mattered enough to him for him to care. Finny, though, Finny cared about everyone. Despite his carefree appearance, he must be constantly worried about hurting the people he loved.

Finny rolled onto his back and grinned up at him, his eyes the colour of the sky and his hair tousled wildly in the grass. "Shizuo-san, aren't cats adorable?"

 _No,_ Shizuo thought, _You're the one that's adorable._

Before his brain could even begin to process anything he'd taken the few steps forward to stand over the kid, dropping to his knees, their faces inches apart.

Finny tilted his head to one side, blinking in confusion but still smiling. "Shizuo-san?"

 _Too. Cute._ Shizuo leaned forward and kissed him clumsily. Finny's mouth was warm and wet and tasted nice, like sunshine and _what the hell am I doing I am bad at kissing he never asked for this he's going to run away and leave me here –_

Shizuo sat back on his heels, cursing himself, trying to get it together and not gaze at Finny's lips. Finny stared at him, silent and wide-eyed.

Shizuo backed away slowly. Finny sat up, rubbing his hair to get the loose grass out of it. He wouldn't stop staring, and Shizuo was nervous with every bone in his body. He ran.

Finny was on his feet immediately, and before Shizuo realized what was happening he was on his back in the grass, the kid sitting on his chest. "Again," Finny demanded, then blushed to his ears, covering his face with his hands and peeking out from behind them. "I mean, did that really just happen?"

Shizuo burst out into uncontrollable laughter. Here was someone capable of chasing him down and tackling him to the ground, yet he was blushing like an innocent schoolgirl. It was too ridiculous.

Finny pouted and punched him lightly in the chest. To his surprise, it hurt a little. "Don't laugh at me."

"Yeah, yeah." Shizuo tucked his glasses safely in his breast pocket and rolled over, pinning Finny beneath him. With a deep breath and a scolding to himself for being too nervous he tried the kiss thing again. This time Finny responded, weaving his fingers in his hair and pulling him closer.

When they finally pulled apart Finny smiled, his cheeks still tinted red. "I think I like you too, you know."

.

 _owari._


End file.
